Hi Shirley,
When you start using it more you will find that it relieves more pain than the actual massage. Massage relieves actually, very little pain. TP is where it is at. Usually you incorporate tp with your massage as you find painful areas while doing it. I rely a lot on my client to assist me in finding the "EXACT" spot. If you get on the edge you won't get it. Maybe just a little relief. Reason for this is that with the main tp, very closely surrounding it are some minors in the same muscle. You can have more than one tp in the same muscle because there are hundreds of muscle strands that make up that muscle. Having this understanding will help you in treatment.

There are actually several "Methods" of relieving that tp. I use all of them. I taught tp at one of out massage schools several years ago so I can tell you a lot. A good course I gave takes about 2 hours. That is a lot of information to pass in email. Don't worry, you will not be a bother, this is what I like to do. So I have some questions for you to help me help you.

1. what methods do you use to relieve the tp? Are you pretty clear in getting it relieved?
2. Do you understand what a tp is and what it is doing to the muscle so that it becomes a tp?
3. Have you worked on multiple tp as with a patient with Fibro? By the way, TP is the ONLY way to bring a person out of fibro attacks, never massage! It is too painful.

Lets go with these questions for now and see where you are.

Thanks Allen ., I have been doing TP therapy but not extensively. Yes I do understand what they are and how to apply the pressure. I usually use my thumb and hold for 6-10 seconds. You had some interesting information for me. Do you use the pressure on the TP during the massage? My clients seem to have so many tender spots, some active TP's some latent. It seems like I would be doing TP therapy thru most of the massage.

Hi Shirley, Yes, you do find people like that and yes, you will be doing an entire visit with tp. And when they leave, they will know the difference. It is hard to give a feel good massage with so much pain. I would explain that and do tp for the session.

1) Method 1: give or take, up to 10 sec, back off re-engage again for 10, back off. Do this about 5 times. Slowly back off, slowly engage. Remember, you might be on the edge. Check surrounding area & you may get more on it.

2) Method 2: When you are directly on the epicenter, slowly engage up to level 3 on scale of 1-5. Take it to a 3 and let the customer tell you. Hold for 1 minute, ask client if it has backed off, yes, down to a 2. Ok more pressure, back up to a 3 and hold till it backs off. Keep engaging more pressure up to a 3. By now, you are pressing pretty good. Recheck the area in a 2 inch circle and see what you find. These are the "Nasty" ones.

3. Method 3: Spray and stretch. Also, important with spray. Ask where the referral is going. Spray a little in all directions around in a circle for a few inches or so and then the long referred pain, like from hip down the leg, take spray all the way down to where it ends, about 3 or 4 sprays